Many sorting and loading operations rely on manual identification. manipulation, and segregation according to a distribution system. Parcels in a distribution center of a private courier is one example. As elements of these systems are automated, reliance on human effort and expertise is reduced. In a combined manual/automated system, the interface of the manual aspect to the automated aspect becomes important.
Technology to track moving features in video is now commonplace. Examples include automated surveillance systems and traffic monitoring systems. In these examples, the system monitors a video stream to “track” an automobile crossing a parking lot, or follow the facial features of individuals as they pass, screening against a watch list. This technology has been applied to industrial material handling systems as well, where items commingled on a conveyor can be followed and their association with information regarding their handling can be maintained as they are processed.
The present invention provides a means of communicating information and processing instructions to an operator in a manual sorting environment. Current technology that accomplishes these functions relies on labels and manual markups. Manual markups. Manual markups are typically done by senior operators with specialized expertise.
Ramsager U.S. Pat. No. 7,090,134 describes a system for projecting a handling instruction onto a moving item or parcel. According to Ramsager, the system projects a display onto an item or parcel using an acquisition device to capture indicia on each parcel, a tracking system, a controller or computer to select the display based on the indicia, and one or more display projectors. In one embodiment the display includes or connotes a handling instruction. The system in one embodiment includes a laser projection system to project the selected display directly onto a selected exterior surface of the corresponding parcel, for multiple parcels simultaneously. The system may be configured to move each display in order to follow each moving parcel so that each display remains legible to a viewer in a display zone where handling takes place.
The system as described by Ramsager is hardware intense. It uses an acquisition device to capture indicia about an item moving along a path generally toward a “display zone” and a tracking system to capture a plurality of locations and corresponding times for the item, the tracking system comprising one or more tracking cameras. The present invention seeks to provide a system that accomplish a comparable end result, for example, a sort of packages moving on a conveyor to specified loading docks, with less complexity.